Turns out, spelling can make a diffrence -- er, difference

12:44 PM,
Aug. 6, 2013

Written by

Olivia Barker and Maria Puente
USA TODAY

Glance at any "c u soon"-splattered smartphone screen and it's obvious: The nation's spelling is in jeopardy.

The orthographic schism between the YOLO generation and its elders came into stark relief over the weekend, when a Connecticut eighth-grader told his local newspaper that he was "cheated" out of a Jeopardy! victory for "just a spelling error," scribbling "emanciptation" instead of "emancipation" in answer to a question about the 13th Amendment.

Cue the Facebook furor, with some posters pointing the finger at Alex Trebek and company for their "bad call" and others calling Thomas ...